The Three Stages of Reefer Madness
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his axe to grind and agenda to push, and these movies certainly helped passage of the Marijuana Tax Act.” Ultimately, Schaefer says, “I think these movies created a lot more curiosity than they tamped down.” REEFER MADNESS HITS THE ROAD After playing what was probably an unimpressive number of high- school auditoriums and VFW halls, Reefer Madness might have been forgotten completely had it not been for Dwain Esper. A director and producer of exploitation films, Esper’s greatest talent was apparently his knack for coming up with film titles; his directorial body of work includes the movies Sex Maniac, Narcotic Racket, and How to Undress for Your Husband. As the story goes, Esper found a copy of Tell Your The Three Stages Children in 1938, saw its potential as a roadhouse attraction and gave it a typically sexier title. Then it was showtime. Reefer Madness made the rounds of small roadhouse theaters for the next decade or so, playing to a much different audience than before: people looking for a cheap thrill. Joe Kane, America’s own Phantom of of Reefer Madness FROM THE DIGITALLY REMASTERED COLORED VERSION the Movies and publisher of Videoscope magazine, finds Esper’s efforts OF REEFER MADNESS (2004) at rebranding for the exploitation crowd less than successful. “It’s much more effective as camp than as exploitation. I think ERIC DANVILLE that the people who went to those roadhouse screenings were probably very bored. They didn’t get much sex. Assassin of Youth had skinny dipping, Marihuana had the lingerie party. Reefer Madness? You got the make-out scenes,” he laughs. Still, Kane remembers the film fondly. “It still stands up as entertainment,” he says. “It’s a lot more fun than other anti-dope films. It’s a lot less dingy. And you have this all-American, squeaky clean crowd of squares who you can’t wait to see get violated.” HIGHER EDUCATION After doing its time on the exploitation circuit, Reefer Madness might have been forgotten completely (again) if not for Keith CANNABIS LIFESTYLE Stroup. In the early ’70s, Stroup was a draw on the college lecture circuit as spokesman for the National Organization for the “IF YOU WANT A GOOD SMOKE, TRY ONE OF THESE.” - REEFER MADNESS 23 Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). After attending one presentation, Stroup’s speaking agent suggested that he check out EIGHTY TWO Years Later, the SPECIALIZING IN THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY SINCE 2016 Original Stoner Movie Remains an Unlikely Hit THE MELODRAMATIC CAUSE-and-effect that drives Reefer Madness’s plot is a big part of its EMERALD MAGAZINE THE BIRTH OF REEFER MADNESS appeal as an unintentionally hilarious masterpiece. According to Eric Schaefer, associate professor at 22 Directed by long-forgotten French Emerson College in Boston and author of Bold! Daring! Shocking! True!: A History of Exploitation flmmaker Louis Gasnier, Reefer Madness Films, 1919–1959, “Personal hygiene movies and anti-drug movies shown in classrooms weren’t was originally released with the content with saying, ‘You should know about this.’ Rather than present things in a dispassionate way, they always had to go over the top to make their point. Then they became ridiculous.” title Tell Your Children in 1936, the year before the Harry J. Anslinger They sure don’t come much more ridiculous than Reefer Madness. The story of the soon-to-be-tragic Marijuana Tax Act made pot illegal teens is told by the stereotypically patrician and completely fictional Dr. Alfred Carroll, who starts the in the United States. A cautionary show by lecturing concerned parents about the menace of mar-ee-wannnna. Jitterbugging schoolkids tale supposedly bankrolled by a pitching woo while reading Romeo and Juliet share screen time with shady characters like “Hot Fingers” long-forgotten local church group, it Peroni, a hybrid of Gene Wilder and Frankenstein’s monster who plays piano at the local malt shop • Bookkeeping, Payroll & Accounting Services • CDTFA cannabis & sales tax flings warned parents what would happen when he’s not hiding in a closet burning a joint that turns him into a cackling, wild-eyed freak. The for small to mid-sized cannabis businesses • State & Federal Tax Return preparation if America’s youth were to take film’s most famous bit of comic relief features murder-witness-in-hiding Ralph Wiley, who collapses • Full service bookkeeping including provided by our team of independent CPA even one puff of the Devil’s weed: in a chair puffing a huge joint while giggling maniacally and screaming at another pianist, “Play faster! Data Entry, Reconciliations, Expenses contractors wild dancing and make-out parties, Play faster!” (In the world of Reefer Madness, three things are for certain: no one ever passes a joint, Allocations, State and Federal Form • Free initial consolation followed naturally by vehicular weed makes everyone laugh like hyenas, and every room has a piano.) Preparation Assistance homicide, attempted rape, assault These days, Reefer Madness is lauded as high camp, but it was originally serious—and effective— We pride ourselves on personalizing every engagement by treating our clients like family and battery, murder, insanity and anti-drug propaganda. Then, as now, crime-based films were “advised” by law-enforcement agencies, suicide. And there’s no way you can whose real job is to make sure producers get the desired message across, and Reefer Madness was no 209.498.2003 • rollinghillsbookkeeping.com watch it without laughing... At least different. “There wasn’t any real research being done at the time,” Schaefer says, “and often the people not today. making these movies were at the mercy of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics to get their information, and Contact us today for a free initial consultation [the makers of Reefer Madness] got much of that information directly from Harry Anslinger. He had Reefer Madness, mentioning that it had fallen into the public domain and was being offered for rental by his company (which would soon go on to make its name as New Line Cinema, thanks in large part to the approaching success of Reefer Madness). Stroup watched the movie—he remembers thinking it was “great for ten or fifteen minutes, otherwise it was the same exaggerated play on the dangers of marijuana for an hour”—and had a filmmaker friend edit it down to about 25 minutes. He credits that edit with really helping the film find its audience. “Kids were going to enjoy seeing it initially anyway, because it flies in the face of their own experiences. But students notoriously have a short attention span, so you NEW don’t want to spend too much time on a silly movie, because you’re there speaking to them for a serious purpose.” Whenever he could, Stroup integrated screenings of the film into his public appearances. “Every time I got an invitation to give a talk for NORML, I would immediately find out if ORLEANS it was an environment where they would feel comfortable with me bringing a copy of Reefer Madness.” he recalls. “Not every environment wanted it, obviously. Some people thought it THE UNSUNG MOTHER OF wasn’t serious enough. If you’re going to testify before a city council, for example, I wouldn’t bring a copy of Reefer Madness!” Once it was re-reintroduced to America, Reefer Madness actually helped Stroup achieve his ultimate goal: “It forced people to confront the exaggerated AMERICAN CANNABIS CULTURE allegations that had been the basis of our public policy.” DIANA TRIMBLE That’s exactly what people did, and look what’s happened since. Eighty-two years after the original anti-drug propaganda film helped turn smoking marijuana into a crime, California turned the legacy of Reefer Madness on its head. So, maybe the best way to celebrate one of the dopiest films of all is to sit back, light up and have the last laugh. EMERALD MAGAZINE 24 REEFER MADNESS POSTER FROM THE 1972 THEATRICAL RELEASE NOLA NEW ORLEANS IS known worldwide as “the birthplace of Jazz,” a moniker which may not be strictly accurate: Jazz has many CANNABIS LIFESTYLE strands that came together from different places. But if no single location can lay solid claim to be the place where this uniquely 25 American art form was “born,” it’s beyond dispute that its trusty guardian is, and has been, New Orleans, a town with a rich multi- cultural scene that invokes the same blend of international flavors as the Jambalaya stew for which it’s also famed. This much is certain: it was musicians of the 1920s New Orleans jazz scene who created the first American subculture to be identified with cannabis use. This is an amazingly under-reported fact that most people of New Orleans are not even aware of themselves! History is murky when it comes to the precise chain of events and geographical zig-zags that brought psychoactive cannabis to the Americas. It’s just one more detrimental effect of the prohibition: secret histories are rife with holes into which powerful propagandists can wedge their own version of the past. Despite the compromised historical record, it is still possible to arrive at the most likely scenario by analyzing what information is available: old shipping routes, ethnic diasporas, social and political histories. It’s generally agreed that cannabis arrived in the southern states first. The most oft-repeated claim is that it arrived here with the Mexicans fleeing the revolution of 1910, who brought it to .